Men's Swimming & Diving

Bulldogs to Compete at Terrier Invitational This Weekend

Nov 20, 2008

Nov. 20, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -
Coming off of a resounding victory over Columbia to open the dual-meet season, the Bulldog men's swimming and diving team will open the invitational season this weekend at the Terrier Invitational hosted by Boston University. The Bulldogs, who took second at the meet last year, will take a select group of swimmers who will hope to build upon the success they experienced last Saturday. As well, the Bulldogs will compete against Southern Connecticut State in a dual meet on Monday.

For the Bulldogs, the Terrier Invitational is an opportunity to get in the first invitational swimming meet of the year for the 10 members of the team that will be competing. In invitationals like the Terrier Invitational, the swimmers compete over a three-day period, rather than the few hours of a dual meet. This longer time period allows the athletes more rest between events, which will hopefully generate very fast times because they can more fully recover and get in the competition mindset for each event individually.

This year, the Bulldogs will send a group of 10 swimmers to compete at the meet, including a few meet veterans. These 10 swimmers will hope to help the Bulldogs keep up with the larger squads that many other schools will send to compete. At the meet, along with the Bulldogs, teams from Boston College, Boston University, Maine and UMass will be in attendance.

The top finisher for the Bulldogs that will return to the meet this year is junior Colin McCarthy. In 2007, McCarthy placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and sixth in the 200-yard backstroke. In addition, sophomore Sam Goldsmith is a strong returner for the Bulldogs. Goldsmith placed sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke and eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke last year.

This year, the schedule will be spread out over three days. On Friday, competition will take place in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay. Competition will continue on Saturday with 200-yard medley relay, the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke and 800-yard freestyle relay. The meet concludes on Sunday with competition in the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 1650-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relay.

Senior captain Alex Righi, who will not be competing at the meet, feels that the Terrier Invitational is a good opportunity for the team to get in some racing at the invitational level relatively early on in the season.

"At Boston University, the student-athletes are looking to swim individual best times," Righi said. "The meet is less a team event because we are going with a limited number of swimmers, but more of a time to try to get good personal times. Everyone on the team has mid and end of season goals, and invitationals are a good opportunity to get up and see how fast you can go."

The meet will feature two freshmen, Alexander Benz and Patrick Puhl, who will be swimming in their first invitational for the Bulldogs. Righi feels that the freshmen are getting well-prepared for college swimming and it will be nice for them to have their first invitational experience.

"The freshmen have adjusted nicely to college swimming," Righi said. "They are embracing the college schedule and format. Right now, they just need to put some times down so they have a place to start from."

On Monday, the Bulldogs will compete at Southern Connecticut State in a dual meet. The Bulldogs won 144-72 in 2007, winning nine of the 12 events contested. While the athletes that are competing at the Terrier Invitational will not compete at the Southern Connecticut meet, many other swimmers on the team will compete at the meet in preparation for their upcoming competitions, including the University of Virginia Invitational, Rutgers Diving Invitational and the USA Short Course Nationals, all of which will take place the first weekend in December.

The SCSU meet will start at 2:00 p.m. with diving at the Kiphuth Exhibition Pool. Swimming starts at 4:00 p.m. at Southern Connecticut State.